


Nick's Nightmare

by AuthenticDeath



Category: Left 4 Dead (Video Games)
Genre: 3 in the morning is where the ideas are, Angst with a Happy Ending, I mean, M/M, suicide for a moment so trigger warning?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 02:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18420723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthenticDeath/pseuds/AuthenticDeath
Summary: I'm terrible at summaries so you don't get one.





	Nick's Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm late to the party but it be like that sometimes. It's trash but tell me what you think? Thanks. But uhhh don't judge too hard, bro

Everything happened so suddenly. The seven survivors didn't know what was happening until it was over with. They had felt the rumbling in the ground before they heard the stomping and the roars. They had all readied their guns, prepared for when the Tank burst through the tree line. 

They were sitting ducks at an abandoned building, the sky having gotten dark before they could make it to the next safe house. They waited anxiously as the sounds of the Tank drew closer.

And then finally, after what seemed like an eternity, there it was, with its ugly head and too-large muscles. Gunfire sounded merely a second later.

The Tank let loose a roar of pain as bullets slammed into its rotting flesh. It rounded on the youngest of the group, Ellis. As soon as it saw his vulnerability, charged toward him, seeing him as an easy target. The hulking undead was solid, nothing more than a mass of moving muscle with an anger issue.

In the Tank's frenzy, one gorilla-like arm collided with Ellis's chest and sent him flying into the wall of the building. He impacted with a sickening crack.

“ELLIS!” that was Nick, he could tell. His body slumped to the ground as the Tank turned to the rest of the group, clearly satisfied at having incapacitated Ellis.

In the end, Nick was the one to do the most damage with Francis and Rochelle coming in second and third. When the beast finally fell, they all stood in shock. Six pairs of eyes darted to where Ellis lay on the ground. Nick quickly recovered and dashed to him.

“Ellis…” Nick couldn't say much more as his eyes ran over the country boy’s chest. His yellow shirt now had a dark stain forming on the right side. There was also an ugly gash on his head from hitting the wall. Ellis’s eyes met Nick's and he smiled. Nick couldn't believe it, he fucking smiled.

“Nick,” he started, voice weak and strained. He knew he was going to die, but he wanted to at least try to make some light of the situation. “You know m'gonna die, right?”

Nick felt tears starting to sting in his eyes and he tried, unsuccessfully, to blink them away. He nodded an answer to the question mournfully. How could Ellis be so positive?

The other five survivors gathered around them as Nick maneuvered Ellis body so that he was laying in a more comfortable position, half on Nick’s lap and half on the ground. The others watched as Nick tried holding back his tears. This was a part of him they thought they would never see.

“Y’know, there was t-this one time my b-buddy K-Keith and I,” of course, Ellis had another story to tell about Keith, Nick thought. He wondered how it related to the current circumstances. Ellis’s breath came in short gasps now. He smiled slightly as Ellis continued his story.  
“We w-went to a sk-skatin’ rink and Keith couldn't stop f-f-fallin’ and o’course I helped h-him up each t-time but K-Keith, he kept c-complianin’ that if I kept h-helpin’ him up, he w-wouldn’t ever get a girl,” he laughed lightly, but that only caused him to gasp, face contorting into a grimace.

It seemed like when the Tank had hit him and he crashed into the wall, a few of his ribs had broken. It felt like one had punctured his left lung, another had stabbed through the right side of his chest and, to top it off, Ellis believed he had flail chest. He was going to die from blood loss, a punctured lung, and broken ribs.  
Huh, not how I expected myself to go down, Ellis thought.

There was nothing they could do except wait and try to make Ellis as comfortable as possible. The others sat in a circle around the two men, tears forming in their eyes as well.

Ellis gave another pained gasp. His eyes stared up at Nick's, wanting them to be the last thing he saw. He reached a shaky hand up to brush Nick's tears off his cheek.

“Don't cry, Nick, it's gonna be alright.” Nick didn't believe it. It wasn't going to be alright, but nonetheless, he nodded.

Rochelle and Zoey were hugging each other, comforting one another. The other three men looked on, all of them with tears in their eyes but not allowing them to fall.

“Hey, kid,” Nick spoke softly, throat tight.

“Yeah, Nick?” Ellis’s voice sounded more strained than before. His time has almost come.  
“Y’know I love you, right?”

Ellis couldn't help but smile, his eyes getting watery also, “yeah, yeah I do Nick. I love you too.” His hand reached up again, this time to pull Nick down into a kiss.

It didn't last very long, it wasn't long enough, but it spoke millions of words that they couldn't say themselves. Nick pulled back and he just looked into Ellis’s eyes as the kid drew his last breath, his tears slipping silently out of his eyes.  
Nick broke down. The others couldn't bear to see him like this. His choked sobs filled the air and tears streamed down his face as he held Ellis’s body close, rocking back and forth.

Zoey and Rochelle held back their own sobs. Francis, Coach, and Louis let their tears fall for both their now dead companion and for his lover.  
He looked up at the others, tears continuing to roll down his face. He looked like a disaster.  
He felt for the pistol in it's holster on his thigh and in one swift motion brought it up to his head and cocked it. 

Before anyone could stop him, he pulled the trigger.

 

 

Nick woke with a start. He quickly glanced to his left, where Ellis should be. Only he wasn't there. He sat up quickly from his place on the floor. He looked around worriedly. Where was Ellis? Why wasn't he with Nick?

He stood up and left the room that had been his and Ellis’s for the night. The safehouse had multiple rooms, so all of the survivors split into pairs, each pair taking watch for a few hours during the night.

He entered the main room and felt a great weight lifting off his shoulders as he saw Ellis sitting on the floor, his rifle lying to his right.  
Ellis looked up at the movement Nick made. He grinned, “hey.”

“Hey to you too,” Nick gave him a small smile as he moved to sit next to his love. “Why didn't you wake me up?”

Ellis looked to the floor, “you needed the sleep,” he mumbled, "you look like you been stressin' a lot. More than usual." While Nick was grateful for the extra hour or so, he certainly didn't enjoy that dream (nightmare) he had.

He wrapped an arm around Ellis’s waist and planted a kiss on top of his head, “thanks.”

“Ya welcome,” Ellis looked up and pulled Nick into a kiss. Nick pulled Ellis closer.

“I love you, you know,” Nick said while staring into Ellis's eyes.

“Yeah, I know. I love you too.” They shared another kiss and continued to keep watch together while they waited for their shift to end.

And Nick vowed to himself to make sure that his nightmare doesn't become a reality.


End file.
